The Air National Guardsman charged with leaking classified intelligence documents admitted that while at high school, he made violent threats that prevented him from getting a firearms license.
Two years later Airman First Class Jack Teixeira secured a top-secret security clearance.
National security officials say the fact that Teixeira could so soon after making threats be granted a security clearance suggests lapses in the clearance process. The military’s vetting process ‘does not include automated checks of social media or chat rooms’.
The U.S. government has struggled to attract sufficient IT and cybersecurity talent from the private sector. This has led to less robust vetting standards.
In November 2020, Teixeira cited his security clearance to a firearms officer, to indicate that he could be trusted to possess a firearm. A gun licence was finally granted.
By February 2022, Teixeira had gained access to documents far beyond what he needed for his job.
In one social media message he wrote that he hoped Islamic State would successfully carry out a purported planned attack at the World Cup. ‘If I had my way, I would kill a ton of people’. One month later, he began leaking classified documents.
By 2023, he admitted sharing national security secrets, said online that he was rooting for groups like Islamic State, and used his government computer to search terms like ‘Las Vegas shooting’ and ‘Uvalde’, a shooting in Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers.
By April 2023, he’d posted 40,000 messages on Discord, a social-media outlet popularised by video game enthusiasts.
In the days leading up to his arrest Teixeira smashed his tablet, Xbox console and iPhone, and threw them in a dumpster, in an apparent bid to eliminate evidence.
[Photo: Eyepress Media/Reuters]